


daddy issues

by spacelamps



Category: Persona 5
Genre: (._.') we all know where that's going, Akechi Goro Lives, Gen, Mentions of past abuse, Not Beta Read, Post-Canon, Post-Persona 5, Post-Persona 5: The Royal, bc we've all seen the deleted scene from p5r and i just refuse to believe he died, futaba is also mentioned in passing, i just think that goro and haru should sit down and talk out their issues, literally wasn't sure whether or not to label this as 'gen' or 'teen' help, mentions of akiren & ann, mentions of past manipulation, mentions of shido & okumura so. uh. haha yeah, seriously please understand okumura n shido are mentioned in this fic, shido & okumura are shitty people!, spoilers for okumura's palace maybe? like the change of heart part, they're not. exactly friends. but they're.... trying?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-29
Updated: 2020-09-29
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:46:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26720023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacelamps/pseuds/spacelamps
Summary: "I don't get it.""What do you mean?""Why don't you hate him."—for all their differences, maybe they have something in common.
Relationships: Akechi Goro & Okumura Haru
Kudos: 16





	daddy issues

**Author's Note:**

> "oh but sage where's the second part in-" i havent touched that fic since july. i keep rewatching my edit that inspired the second part and i've still yet to go back to writing it. maybe one of these days. this is also the shortest thing i've written in ages and it's weird but honestly i can't imagine it being any longer than this.
> 
> hi yes the title is based off the song by the neighborhood don't look at me like that. anyway full disclaimer okumura deserved what he got!
> 
> please head the tags; shido & okumura are referenced a lot in this. because of this, mentions of stuff they've done to akechi & haru will be mentioned as well! if something else needs to be tagged PLEASE let me know!!!
> 
> also this.. isn't a very happy fic. it's not.. angst? but it's also not hurt/comfort or fluff idk how to tag it.

She doesn’t know why he’s called her out here. Out of everyone he could talk to, he calls her? Not Akira or Ann, but _her_?

The park is silent save for the occasional chatter of the occasional passerby and the stray couple that wanders around the park, holding hands and chatting about nothing. She thinks there’s a few children playing on the playground, based on the quiet high-pitched squeals and laughter in the distance.

They’ve been sitting here for a few minutes, and neither of them have spoken.

She wonders who will be the first to cave.

“I don’t get it.”

He caves first, apparently. For some reason, she’s not as surprised as she figures she should be.

She pauses, glancing over at him. “What do you mean?”

“Why don’t you hate him.” It’s not phrased as a question, but it causes her pause all the same.

She chances a glance at her companion, noting how he avoids looking at her. Instead, he sits with a slight hunch to his shoulders, elbows resting on his knees, and stares at his clasped hands. A chilly breeze drafts by, but neither of them shiver.

His gaze looks unfocused.

“How do you not hate your father,” he says, and suddenly everything makes a little more sense. 

(even as she ignores the stone sinking somewhere within her ribcage. of course that’s what he wants to talk about; why else would she be out here?)

“He manipulated you and used you for his own gain,” he continues, voice growing cold. His already clasped hands tighten, and if it weren’t for his gloves, she’d worry about him drawing blood. Knowing him, maybe he manages to draw a bit anyway. The gloves can’t save him from the indentions. “He tried to sell you off for his own gain.”

“Are you trying to say that you did me a favor by killing him?” she asks, tone cold and pointed.

“If it wasn’t a favor to you, then it was for me,” he snaps, and it hits her how many people and competitors her late father’s business had seen crumble into dust due to something happening—more than likely, a mental breakdown.

(they both know that their fathers worked together. maybe they could’ve met years earlier, had he been recognized as shido’s son. she doesn't think they could have ever worked together though. she wanted her father back: the way she knew him when she was a child. he wanted his dead.)

She sighs, leaning against the bench and tilting her head up toward the gray sky. (she wonders if it’s going to rain soon.)

“Is this about Shido?” she finally asks, quietly. She notices him stiffen in her peripheral, and she sighs. Of course it is.

(it shouldn’t be a surprise; his execution is set for a week from now.)

“Akechi,” she finally says, breaking their strange, tense silence. She doesn’t see him move, but she feels his eyes on her. “I never forgave my father.” She chances a look at him.

“But you-”

“I also never forgave you for killing him either.” She sounds clipped and harsh, but she knows the teen sitting next to her can handle it. 

“I never expected you to,” he says, and she knows it’s the truth. 

(she doesn’t know how he feels, but she can guess: it’s probably a mixed set of feelings, shoved into a tight ball in the center of his chest. he’s probably cried from shock, but what does he feel now, knowing that this is set in stone and something to happen? that by the month’s end, the man who manipulated him into the perfect killer, the man he’d chased attention from, would be dead, left as a memory and an afterthought?)

(he knows it’s a miracle she’s even out here, giving him the time of day. just because he’s started trying to kindle a somewhat friendship with futaba, it doesn’t mean it’ll work just as easily with her.)

She wonders if he’ll try to reiterate his question. Wonders how badly he wants an answer. 

Momentarily, she wonders why he sees (saw?) the man who never cared enough to raise him as a father figure, even if he was his birth father and he craved his affection. But something small within her understands, gently clicking into place, because even if their situations are different she understands wanting a father’s approval and appreciation and attention even if he could care less for her and is only using her to further himself in his career.

She bites back the weird feeling that she feels when she realizes that the two aren’t really that different, briefly wondering if this is how some of the others felt when they realized they had something in common with the former assassin.

She realizes that they’ve been sitting in silence, equally unsure how to continue. Somewhere in the distance, a mother calls out to her children, telling them it’s time to leave. The park falls quiet and quieter and the chill begins to slowly seep into their bones.

“He could’ve changed,” she finally says, breaking their silence. She shakes her head, fisting the hems of her skirt. Ignores the tears that threaten to break free, brimming in her eyes. “I don’t know how much he would have changed, and I don’t think I would have ever fully forgiven him.”

Her voice hardens. “But he was my _father_ , and you took that chance away from me.”

He turns away from facing her and stares silently ahead. She doesn’t say anything, doesn’t look at him, but wonders all the same if he’s still struggling to accept Shido’s fate. Wonders if he’ll tear up from the bitter cold or the situation still sinking in.

“Then I guess we both took something from each other, huh?” he asks quietly, and she blinks in surprise. Confusion flickers across her face before she sighs, shaking her head to stare directly into her lap.

“Yeah. I guess we did.”

**Author's Note:**

> _go ahead and cry, little boy_  
>  _you know that your daddy did too_  
>  _you know what your mama went through_  
>  _you gotta let it out soon, just let it out_
> 
> _go ahead and cry, little girl_  
>  _nobody does it like you do_  
>  _i know how much it matters to you_  
>  _i know that you got[daddy issues](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqSgsq4Bn2c)_
> 
> find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/spacedlamp)


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